December 31st marked the end of my term as Interim Director. Looking back, the past
year was marked by many accomplishments of the UCMP group. The list of publications
by the staff, curators, and students documents their contributions to research, but
there is more! Not listed are a number of commentaries that appeared in international
scientific journals and newspapers highlighting various aspects of the research
being carried on at UCMP. More and more people are discovering the
Understanding Evolution web
site and other outreach activities of the museum. Last spring the number of
requests for pages on our websites reached a high of over four million requests per
month! Reorganization of the administrative structure of UCMP has been successfully
completed. Together we have accomplished at lot.

Looking ahead into the
New Year, our colleague Roy Caldwell has agreed to serve as Interim Director and will
be ably assisted by Interim Assistant Directors Judy Scotchmoor and Mark Goodwin. An
international search for a paleobiologist to join the faculty of the Department of
Integrative Biology and serve as the Director of UCMP is underway. March and April
will be exciting times as applicants will be interviewing at Berkeley and presenting
talks on their research.The past year has been
a busy time for me and one that has been made most rewarding by all that has been
accomplished. These accomplishments would not have been possible without the support
from the Friends of UCMP. Thank you!